The Last Dance of Bureaucratic Charity: A Tale of Modern Mediocrity

Lo, behold the spectacle of our times! In the great temple of bureaucracy, where paper-pushers and decree-makers hold court, another proclamation emerges from the depths of governmental slumber. Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, that shepherd of the mediocre masses, announces an extension for charitable donations on tax returns until February's end.

How the mighty have fallen! Once, giving arose from the depths of human spirit, a spontaneous overflow of power and abundance. Now it languishes, trapped in the web of receipts and deadlines, awaiting the blessing of bureaucratic masters!

In this land of sleepers, where the masses drift through their days in comfortable torpor, even the act of charity must be regulated, documented, and approved by the state. The premieres, those provincial shepherds, beseeched their master Trudeau, and lo, their prayer was answered with the extending of deadlines - a modern miracle for the last men who cannot imagine giving without receiving their tax receipts in return.

Observe how they scramble for their petty rewards! These last men who blink and say, "We have invented happiness - and charitable tax deductions." How they measure their virtue in percentage points of tax relief!

The great postal strike, a four-week interruption in the flow of paper promises, has thrown the machinery of giving into disarray. The Salvation Army, that bastion of organized benevolence, reports a decline of more than half in their holiday offerings. Behold how the modern man, so dependent on his systems and structures, becomes paralyzed when the usual channels of giving are disturbed!

What speaks this decline in donations? It speaks of a society that has forgotten the joy of giving without receipt, the power of direct action, the strength of immediate compassion. Instead, they wait for their paper trails, their documented proofs, their official sanctions.

See how they have made even generosity a matter of calculation! These last men who cannot give without first consulting their accountants, who measure their compassion in tax brackets!

The Finance Department, that great cathedral of numbers, promises new legislation when Parliament reconvenes. The Liberal minority government, teetering on the precipice of confidence, shall present this gift to the people - more time to claim their charitable acts, more time to secure their small rewards.

In this land of the sleepers, where the masses dream of security and comfort, even acts of kindness must be processed through the great machinery of state. The old way of giving - direct, immediate, powerful - fades into memory as the new way - documented, regulated, approved - takes its place.

What values speak through these actions? The values of the last man, who makes all things small, who seeks comfort above all, who fears the chaos of spontaneous generosity!

Yet perhaps in this very spectacle lies the seed of awakening. Perhaps some will see the absurdity of requiring government permission to be charitable, of needing official sanction to be generous. Perhaps some will rise above the slumber of bureaucratic virtue and rediscover the power of direct action, of giving without counting the cost, of charity that springs from strength rather than calculation.

Until then, the last men will continue their dance of documented virtue, claiming their charitable acts on forms filed in triplicate, seeking approval from above for their good deeds. And the great machinery of state will continue to grind, extending deadlines, processing claims, reducing even the noblest of human impulses to entries in a ledger.

Let those with ears hear: The true measure of giving lies not in tax returns but in the overflow of power! The greatest charity needs no receipt!